1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for calculating and providing analytical data as an output, particularly medical analytical data.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lay persons, particularly lay persons who are medical patients, require information from experts such as doctors for concrete problems such as health. Such a consultation usually takes place in person; i.e., the person desiring information must visit the expert, for instance the doctor. It is possible to discuss the current problem and the individual situation concretely in the context of such a personal interview. The course of the consultation or the informational interview can be dictated by the participants themselves. Uncertain statements can be followed up and taken into account in the final result, so that it is possible to make and discuss alternative statements. Such a consultation must proceed openly, in the sense that it does not necessarily result in a final decision.
It is not always possible, however, to consult with experts in case of need, and such consultation is relatively costly.
An object of the present invention is to provide a system of the type initially described which is capable of conveying a specific item of information to the information seeker with respect to a concrete problem, which makes it possible to generate the given information in the form of analytical data, such as occur on the part of the expert in the context of a personal consultation.
This object is achieved in accordance with the invention in a system having a computer with an evaluation unit for analyzing information that can be entered by the system user and for generating analytical data, and an output medium at the user side, the evaluation unit being configured for interrogating and accepting information entered at the user side, both for allowing information to be entered autonomously by the user based on a number of inquiries which are predefined at the system side, and which are selectable with respect to the response, and which can be omitted via the output medium. The evaluation unit also is configured for controlling an interactive information capture so that specific inquiries can be formulated and made available as an output depending on the previous information. The evaluation unit is configured for processing information that is random in content and for evaluating the analytical data with a continuous value measure, so that it is possible for the user to retrieve and output, at any time, the analytical data that can be generated on the basis of previous information.
The inventive system enables the system user to obtain the necessary information by exchanging information with the evaluation unit, or with the system itself. To collect the information required for the generation of the analytical data, the evaluation unit can be operated in various modes of operation. In one mode, questions which are defined at the evaluation unit side are given to the user, who can answer them with xe2x80x9cyesxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cno,xe2x80x9d for example, or, in the case of a system configured for medical problems, by indicating body temperature or the like. In this way, information can be collected which the user himself can recognize and acquire. Compared to a personal consultation, information thus can be captured which the expert collects, for instance the doctor may ask the question xe2x80x9cWhich symptoms of disease do you have?xe2x80x9d to which the patient responds, xe2x80x9cskin rashxe2x80x9d.
In addition, the inventive evaluation system is also capable of formulating questions autonomously, based on the existing information, in order to intentionally solicit information it requires for purposes of generating the analytical data. To this end, the evaluation unit can be an expert system such as a neural network or a Bayes network, for example, the system being configured for generating and formulating corresponding questions that influence the analytical data in some way. Information thus can be collected which are obtained in personal consultation by means of purposeful questioning by the expert, who takes into account his or her expertise, as well as the information already given. The evaluation unit is thus capable of processing information with an arbitrary content; i.e., not only absolute items of information such as xe2x80x9cyesxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cnoxe2x80x9d are processed, but also it is possible to process uncertain statements of information by the user such as xe2x80x9cI don""t knowxe2x80x9d or the like. The system is completely open; there are no limitations of any kind relating to the enterable information content, or the type of enterable information.
Another particular advantage of the inventive system is that the evaluation unit is configured to evaluate the analytical data with a value measure. This value measure can be a measure of possibility, for instance, of the type that indicates the likelihood percentage that given analytical data are correct and enables the user to advantageously detect xe2x80x9cthe weightxe2x80x9d of the outputted analytical output data, in order possibly to be able to reach a further decision based thereon. The user thus receives a statement of possibility as to whether, and with what probability, one disease or another may be present, as in a personal consultation. A decision, i.e. stipulating a specific alternative which can be the only one, does not occur. The user can stop the analysis mode at any time and receive the result of the analysis as an output. That is, the system is flexible to the extent that it does not require a specific amount of information to corresponding inquiries. Rather, the analysis can be brought to an end at any time. In sum, the inventive system enables the user to be able to collect a problem-specific consultation result autonomously, with different information being taken into consideration in the consultation result, and the analytical result is open, as is the case in a personal consultation.